Absolute Player Bios

Bio from September 1994.

Louis B. Owen was born February 18, 1944, in Detroit. He resides with his wife and two children in the city of Houghton, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where he took refuge from urban life in 1968.

Louis teaches US and world history in the L'Anse Area Schools. He enjoys film and walking his dogs through the forests and swamps near his home. He learned to play chess while a young child from his mother. In 1968, while living on a remote farm located on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Reservation, he began playing correspondence chess.

In 1973 he placed second in the CCLA North American Master Class Tournament. In 1975 he finished second in the CCLA Grand National. He played seventh board for the US team in the Olympiad. In 1991, Louis won an Anglo-Pacific Master Tournament. Louis achieved the title of 1992 USCF Absolute Co-Champion with Vernon Vix, Jr.